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In 1996, Old 97’s recorded Too Far to Care. It was their major-label debut—following two independent releases and a year-long bidding war, the Dallas-based quartet had signed with Elektra Records. But rather than venture into some state-of-the-art studio in New York or LA, the band decamped to Village Productions in Tornillo, Texas, a remote facility in the middle of two thousand acres of pecan trees near the Mexican border, with a mixing board acquired from an engineer who had worked on some of Queen’s albums. Now over twenty years later, they have returned to record their eleventh studio album, Graveyard Whistling.

“[Too Far To Care] is the sound that best defined us,” says Rhett Miller, the lead singer and primary songwriter. “It was a really magical time, and we go back to it a lot in our collective memory.”

And so when it came time for the band—which still consists of the same four members: Miller, guitarist Ken Bethea, bassist Murry Hammond, and drummer Philip Peeples—to record their newest endeavor, producer Vance Powell brought up the idea of returning to Tornillo. “We knew instantly that it was the perfect move,” says Miller. “We weren’t trying to remake Too Far to Care, but to make something where fans would say, ‘This band hasn’t lost a step in twenty-some years.’”

The result is the eleven songs of Graveyard Whistling, from a group that has earned the respect and veneration as one of the pioneers of the alt-country movement, while still retaining the raucous energy, deceptive cleverness, and knockabout spirit that first distinguished them from the pack. The record comes out blazing with the breakneck shuffle of “I Don’t Want to Die in This Town” (based on a possibly apocryphal quote from Frank Sinatra), and maintaining that feverish intensity even when the tempo drops on songs like the more contemplative “All Who Wander.” Echoes of such barroom saints as the Replacements and the Pogues appear on sing-alongs “Bad Luck Charm” and “Irish Whiskey Pretty Girls,” but bigger and more mature issues simmer underneath the steamroller swing.

Returning to Tornillo was more than just a novelty, and proved key to the album’s direction. At some point renamed Sonic Ranch, the studio has been expanded and updated, but the band went back into the same recording space. They even stayed in the same bedrooms—Miller opened the drawer of his nightstand and found a note that he had written twenty years earlier.

“The time-travel element can’t be overstated,” says the singer. “It was a beautiful feeling of completing a circle—we’re the same people, but we had grown so much as bandmates and friends. It really made me believe in the power of experience and that you do get better with time. We’re capable of so much more now than we were two decades prior, but it also felt like we just took a coffee break in 1996 and now here we were, sitting back down to make a new record.”

After all this time, Old 97’s also found themselves in the interesting position of following up the most critically acclaimed, highest charting record of their career, 2014’s Most Messed Up. “We didn’t expect that kind of reception for Most Messed Up—in the current climate,” says Miller. “It was very cool, and weird, a great feeling but also a newfound pressure.

Buttercup, a life-affirming art-rock band from Texas, has written hundreds of original songs that NPR calls “jangly art rock for the left side of the brain.” Since 2004, the band has released 7 full length recordings and a DVD documentary. They have toured the US, and have shared the stage with Jonathan Richman, Elliott Smith, Rhett Miller (the Old 97s), Ian Moore, Jad Fair, The Apples in Stereo, Salim Nourallah, and Willie Nelson.
Buttercup is a trio of distinct personalities: singer Erik Sanden, guitarist Joe Reyes and bassist odie. The three joined forces in 2003 and have remained the best of friends. In this way, Buttercup is a real band, like U2 or the Osmonds, with long term membership (original members) and a large body of work. Erik Sanden functions largely as a frontman: he is terribly handsome, nigh-literate and his humor tends towards the absurd. Joe Reyes is famous for his unwavering smile, generous nature and, oh yeah, for his Grammy. Odie, a Texas treasure, brings unconventional voicings, deep sartorial sense, and rock-and-roll-animal power both to the bass and to his cooking (he has been known to craft high quality sandwiches on stage).
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Buttercup’s live show blends visual art, performance art and installation. For example, the band often takes “phone calls” from a red rotary phone that has been rigged to function as a microphone. These conversations heighten the drama and narrative already wound into the show. The band once staged a live talk show with celebrity guests and comedic interviews. That night Sanden handled a snake on stage. On three separate occasions Buttercup delivered a signature piece, Audience of One, where individual audience members were led into a back room (all by their lonesome) and therapeutically prescribed songs depending on their specific musical needs. These unusual shows lead their fan base, affectionately called the “Buttercult”, to expect the unexpected.
The band has most recently recorded a full-length record of what Tiny Mix Tapes calls “minimalist pop” with producer Danny Reisch, scheduled for release in 2016. Their side project, Demitasse, was recently picked by NPR as one of the top bands to see at SXSW in 2015 and their song “Comfy Coffins” was featured on All Songs Considered. Currently, Buttercup is already deep into the recording of yet another record, Battle of Flowers, of louder original rock songs also slated for release in 2016. On this project Buttercup is joined by the Navaira brothers, Diego and Emilio Jr., sons of Tejano legend Emilio Navaira. Battle of Flowers is being mixed by Larry Crane (Elliott Smith, Death Cab for Cutie, Sleater-Kinney) in Portland Oregon and is slated for a summer 2016 release on Bedlamb Records.